ALONE WITH GOD     

  First. The church of God was built by Christ, whereas all sects have been founded by man. "And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. " Matt. 16:18. Three things stand out prominent in this text. First,, Christ is the builder, founder, and organizer of his church. " I will build " shows that the church of God is not man made, but is of divine origin. It was prophesied by Daniel as a kingdom set up by the God of heaven. "It is the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Heb. 8: 2. All sects have been organized by men. The church of God is divine; all sects are human. The former was built by Christ; the latter, by men. Christ built but one church. Since sects are separated into multiplied divisions, God is not their author; for he is not the author of confusion, but of peace. The church that Christ built he denominates "my church." No sect, then, is his church, for sects were all built by man. Since they are not Christ's, they belong to men and the devil; for there is no neutral ground. The church that Christ built was to stand eternally. "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." "It shall stand forever." Dan. 2: 44. Since it was to stand forever, it is in existence today. The same church that Christ built nineteen centuries ago is still standing. In it alone we hold membership; to it alone we belong. Thank God, it will stand while the cycles of ages roll.

  Another point of contrast. In A. D. 32 Jesus said, "I will build my church " In A. D. 33 "the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2: 47). This proves that the church of God was already built. Its complete organization dates from Pentecost. Since all sects have come into existence since A. D. 33, not one of them is the Bible church. Of sect Babylon, the Catholic is the oldest, but its organization does not date back farther than the third or fourth century. The Lutheran is the oddest sect of Protestantism, but its creed was not formed until A. D. 1530. Since that date all the other sects of Protestantism have arisen. They can not be God's church, for it was centuries old before they came into existence. It is the true; they are false. It is the real; They are substitutes. It is the genuine; they are all counterfeits. We, as the saints of the Most High, discard all the latter and abide in the former. We cling to the church of God and reject all sects. Are we not orthodox in so doing ? Who can deny it?

  But some will say, "The churches [meaning, sects] are necessary to the government, the organization, and the success of the people of God." If this is true, how does it come that in the days of primitive Christianity and for centuries before these sects arose, the people of God got along so well without them? What improvement have modern sects made on the government, the organization, or the success of Christianity? Let the devotees of sect Babylon answer. "But," says one, "the church of God in the days of the apostles was a perfect organization. " So it was, and so it is today. We abide in that very church that in the days of the apostles had government and was perfectly organized; and, thank God, its government or its organization has never changed. Then why plead for worthless sects? There was no Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Disciple, Mennonite, Dunkard, Shaker, Quaker, Free Methodist, Amish, Episcopalian, Pentecost Band, Christian Catholic, Gospel Worker, Universalist, Mormon, Adventist, United Brethren, etc., in the days of primitive Christianity. All these sects have arisen since. Did not the cause of Christ prosper more in the earth before their existence than since?

  Second. The church of God is the body of Christ; no sect composes this body; therefore no sect on earth is the church. " His body's sake, which is the church." Col. 1:24. "He is the head of the body, the church." Verse 18. " The church which is his body. " Eph. 1: 22, 23. These texts are conclusive; the church is Christ's body. This body is composed of all the saved. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." 1 Cor. 12: 27. Since there are other bodies, and these are no part of the church; and since the church existed centuries before modern sects arose, and that church was the body of Christ, it follows that the modern sects can not be the true church.

  Third. All Christians belong to the church of God. No sect contains all Christians. Reader, observe this truth. The church of God includes in its membership every saved man and woman in heaven and on earth. It is the whole family of God ( Eph. 3: 15). You can not be a Christian and not a member of the church of God. Whether you are in a sect or out, if you have salvation, you are a member of the Bible church. Since tile church of God includes all Christians, it is not a sect; it is the whole. We, the saints of God, through salvation are members of the church of God. We belong to no other institution. Therefore we are not members of any sect, but of the whole, the family entire. To become a sect, we should have to organize and join another body than the body of Christ. What, then, is a sect? Any institution that does not include in its membership every saint in heaven and on earth. For example, does the Methodist denomination include the whole family of God? If so, there are no Christians outside of this particular organization. To admit that there are saved people outside or elsewhere is to admit l hat that institution is not the church of God. Not one sect on earth includes all Christians; therefore no sect could be God's church. But when goaded and nettled by this positive truth, sectarians cry, that all the churches (meaning sects ) together constitute the church of God. If so, then c all the sects taken together include all the saved in heaven and on earth. Do they? They all know better. Thousands and millions in paradise are members of the church of God who were never members of any sect on earth. More than this, there are tens of thousands of saints upon earth who do not hold membership in any of the modern sects, yet stand complete in Christ and are members of his church. And again, if all sects taken together, Catholic and Protestant, compose God's church, where was his church before they arose? Ah, God's church existed one thousand five hundred years before the first Protestant sect was organized So it is separate from all sects and they form no part of it.

  Another thought. God's church will exist through all eternity, whereas all sects cease to exist when time ends. So view the subject from whatever standpoint you may, there is no relation between the church of God arid modern sects. To point met' to, and lead them into, sects by trying to identify these institutions with the Bible church is to make the truth of God falsehood and to become guilty of the sin of heresy. God help all honest souls to forsake all sects and abide in the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

  "But," say these people, "are you not a sect yourselves: Are you not narrow?" No. In order to become a sect, we must organize a separate institution from the body of Christ. Thank God, we renounce all such institutions and abide only in Christ. instead of being narrow and sectish, we are members of the only Bible church, the one to which all Christians belong. Therefore the whole family of God are our brethren and sisters. We have fellowship with all the saved. We simply renounce sects and all evil, but recognize tile few scattered believers who, for want of better light, are still held in these fallen institutions.

  Fourth. Christ is the head of but one body; sects comprise many separate bodies; hence  Christ is not their head. "And he is the head of the body, the church." Col. 1:18. "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." Rom. 12: 5. " There is one body and one Spirit. " Eph. 4: 4. The body is one, or "one body" (Col. 12: 12). " Baptized into one body. " Verse 13. " Reconciled in one body." Eph. 2:16. "Called in one body." Col. 3:15. The fact that there is only one body proves that there is but one church. Hence all other bodies are out of Christ. Sectism presents almost a thousand separate and distinct bodies. We prove our loyalty to God by abiding only in the one body—the church of God—and by rejecting all others as antichristian. If the multiplied organized bodies of sect Babylon are right, then the Bible is wrong; for if the Bible is true, there is but one body, one church in Christ, and all others are antichristian. Reader, stand by the truth and let sects fall. Flee out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soul. Christ is the head of but one body—his body. No sect, then, has Christ for its head. They have only human heads. As head of the church, Christ is its lawgiver. He has given us the law—the New Testament—for the perfect government of his church. Sects have to revise their laws or discipline, whereas the law of the Lord is perfect and needs no revision.

  Fifth. Salvation makes us members of the church of God, but not of any sect. This point is worthy of careful consideration. Jesus said. "I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." John 10: 9. "And the Lord added to the church daily such as should he saved." Acts 2: 47. The church and the kingdom are the same. Conversion puts us into the kingdom (Matt. 18: 3); through the new birth we enter it (John 3:3-5). The moment a sinner receives pardon, that moment he becomes a member of the church of God. Does conversion make one a member of the Baptist, of the Methodist, of the Dunkard, or of any other sect? It does not. These one must join. Some sects claim to be orthodox, among them the Christian, the Disciples, and the Catholic. But when a sinner repents and gets salvation, that does not make him a member of any of the above sects. Yet he is a member of the church of God. So with all their boastful claims, they are classed with the sects of fallen Babylon. The only way to obtain membership ;n the new testament church is to get salvation; so all its members are saved. We lose our membership in the church of God the moment we commit sin. "He that committeth sin is of the devil." I John 3: 8. But sects are full of sinners. There is no identity whatever between the church that Christ built and sect Babylon.

  Sixth. Christ takes the members into his church whereas the preacher takes members into the sect. "But now hath God set the members every one in the body as it hath pleased him." 1 Cor. 12: 18. "The Lord added to the church daily."  Acts 2:47. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Col. 1: 13. Inducting into the church of God is a work of the Almighty. Men can not take you in. They can preach the Word, instruct souls in the way of righteousness, but setting us in the church is beyond their power. "God sets the members every one of them in the body." When a sinner repents and complies with all the Bible requirements, the Lord saves him and adds him to the church of God. He has not, by virtue of salvation, been added to any sect. The preacher takes him into these institutions. But their excuse is this: They say that the Lord saves and adds to the invisible church, while they take members into the visible. In this, however, they are mistaken. The church of God existed centuries before their sects arose. Was it visible or invisible? Was the church of God in the days of the apostles an invisible institution? No; it was visible. The same is true today.

  So from whatever standpoint we may view sectarian institutions in the light of the Bible, they are no part of, and have no identity with, the pure church of God. Hence there is positively no lawful excuse for their existence.